Oilers have formidable task ahead

San Jose Sharks' Joe Thornton (R) scores past Edmonton Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulin during the second period of their NHL hockey game in San Jose, California December 17, 2011. (REUTERS/Robert Galbraith)

Derek Van Diest, QMI Agency

The Edmonton Oilers weren’t able to get the job done against teams below them in the standings, and at this rate, all they’ll be faced with are clubs above them.

Despite a valiant effort in San Jose, the Oilers came away empty-handed Saturday and in turn have nothing to show for their last three games on the road.

Now they get to come back to Rexall Place to face two of the top teams in the Western Conference in the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild.

If they are unable to secure any points at home this week prior to the Christmas break, they’ll have the daunting task of trying to make up ground on the road in their ‘Get out of town for the world junior championships’ seven-game trip starting on Boxing Day.

The way things are going, the Oilers can forget about playing meaningful games in March and April. This thing could be over by mid-January.

The Oilers are starting to slip into an all-too-familiar pattern.

Play hard and lose, put in a sub-par effort and get hammered.

Tom Renney isn’t the problem. His work habits can’t be questioned.

Like the U.S. Army commercials would state, the Oilers head coach does more before 9 a.m., than most people do all day.

But it’s becoming apparent Renney may not have the tools required to make the push many were expecting.

The future is in the kids, but other than playing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on both power-play units, the Oilers coach can’t do much else.

As much as he would like to, Renney can’t send Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle over the boards on every shift.

Outside of Ryan Jones, the supporting cast isn’t chipping in.

Ryan Smyth’s game seems to have abandoned him and not only is he not scoring, he’s losing more puck battles along the boards than he was at the start of the year.

It’s tough to blame the veteran, who’s been through more battles than Genghis Khan, but it does appears time is catching up to Smyth as it eventually does to everybody.

Time doesn’t discriminate and a 35-year-old player can only be invigorated by youthful surroundings for so long before eventually being left behind, keeled over trying to catch his breath.

Smyth doesn’t have a goal in 10 games and has just three assists in that span.

Yet Smyth is not Renney’s biggest concern when it comes to dealing with veterans.

He has a soon-to-be 39-year-old goaltender that needs to be managed so time won’t catch up to him as well.

Nikolai Khabibulin has been outstanding for the Oilers this season, but Renney can’t risk playing the veteran every night for fear of burning him out.

Yet, by not playing him every night, there may not be anything worth saving Khabibulin for towards the end of the season.

It’s quite the conundrum for Renney, who would like to see his team play better in front of Devan Dubnyk allowing Khabibulin to take a few more nights off.

Then there’s the matter of Ales Hemsky, who seems to be playing in a fog, not certain what his role is with the Oilers anymore, wondering if he’ll be part of the club’s future.

He’s the team’s most marketable commodity, but his trade value is dropping by the contest.

Heading into Monday’s game, Hemsky has three goals and eight assists in 22 games. He’s ninth in team scoring and is no longer the player opposing coaches circle when preparing their game plans.

The Oilers have dropped to 12th in the conference standings and are closer to teams at the bottom of the table then they are to those at the top.

And once near the bottom of the standings, it gets increasingly difficult to start climbing over clubs trying to get back into a playoff picture.